


Flying

by Shusan



Category: My Forged Wedding
Genre: Dancing, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-07-26 17:50:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7584097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shusan/pseuds/Shusan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When MC wants to learn to dance, there's really only one man who can teach her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flying

**Author's Note:**

> For obsessionaboutillusions (via tumblr) and her marvelous challenges.
> 
> This is an import of an old tumblr fanfic. Enjoy!

It was probably more than a bit silly, rocking back and forth, pretending to slow dance with an invisible—but gorgeous—man. The image I made was no doubt made sillier by the fact that I was holding a damp cloth in one hand, which I had just finished using on the bar counter.

Then again, there wasn't anyone around to see, either.

Uncle had had to rush off to his company due to take care of . . . well, he hadn't quite said what he had to take care of, but he’d left me to close the bar on my own.

It was also a week night, so the guys had stuck around long enough to eat the food Uncle had made just before he’d gotten the call and rushed off. They hadn't left all together, but it hadn't taken them long to leave after Uncle had left.

Luckily, Uncle’s bar wasn’t very popular tonight, so that left me with minimal clean up. Still, it was boring without Uncle joking around and laughing, or the guys harassing each other, so I’d decided to practice my dancing for Uncle’s big corporate party next month. He’d invited me, saying it was my reward for working hard, and that he’d use the chance to introduce me around and finally see about getting me that job he was always promising me.

So I’d decided to practice my dancing skills in case there was a cute guy at Uncle’s party. The broom was my stand-in dream man, and we floated along the floor as I—literally—swept my broom-man away and off its feet, humming off-key to myself as we moved.

But it was a lot harder to pretend to slow dance when there’s no one to catch you if you misstep or stumble than I’d expected, and I ended up whirling into the edge of the bar.

“Ouch!” I groused, gripping my hip with one hand as my other hand barely kept my balance against the counter. The broom I’d been holding and using as my dance partner tumbled to the ground loudly just as I heard the front door opened.

“We’re closed!” I called out, berating myself for not locking the door properly earlier, and hoping that the customer hadn't witnessed my lack of grace and poise.

_If it's Saeki or Yamato, I'll never hear the end of this._

“I’m aware,” I heard a familiar voice behind me, and I whirled to find Ren’s butler standing at the front of the door. His posture was perfect as always, and he moved with a disgustingly large amount of grace as he stepped into the bar without even a second glance at me.

 _It's just not fair. He's more graceful and elegant than most women_ , I grumbled to myself.

I always felt awkward whenever Daniel was around. He’d been appearing more and more frequently with Ren at Long Island, and even though the guys seemed rather calm around him, Daniel always made me feel out of place.

Daniel never spoke casually, he always had perfect posture, and he never seemed to have a single hair out of place—and it was clear he expected the same thing of everyone else.

It also felt like he wasn’t overly fond of my friendship with Ren, either, but I never could seem to figure out why. And he was never blatant enough about it for me to call him out on it, either.

“Where is my prince?” Daniel asked a moment later, and I winced at both his sharp tone and the reminder that everyone had been keeping a secret from me about Ren until a week ago when Daniel had inadvertently spilt the beans.

“You just missed him,” I said lamely, trying to straighten my own posture to imitate his so he’d have less to ridicule. “He left about twenty minutes ago.”

“Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!” Daniel nearly screeched. “He was supposed to wait here for me!”

I cringed at Daniel’s sudden scowl. Lately, it seemed like Ren had been giving Daniel the slip more often than usual—the guys joked that Ren was finally dating someone, but I figured that he’d actually either just fell asleep or forgot—and Daniel’s reactions were steadily getting worse and worse.

“I don’t know where he is,” I added quickly before Daniel could read me the riot act. “He left about the same time as the others, so maybe he's with one of them. But,” I continued as Daniel immediately whipped out his phone, “maybe he just wants some quiet tonight, Daniel. I mean, he does spend long hours at the lab, and—”

“What would a _commoner_ know of a prince’s needs?” Daniel ground out, tightly gripping his state-of-the-art cell in his hand—just another reminder of the divide in our classes.

At this rate though, I could feel the inevitable manhunt brewing, as Daniel would try to turn every rock up looking for Ren. I remembered just how weary Ren looked when he came in for dinner earlier, and how he'd nearly dozed off into his udon. Uncle had hinted that Ren was spending longer days in the lab than usual, and he probably wasn’t sleeping or eating much, especially if Daniel was constantly chasing after him.

 _Someone_ had to calm Daniel down, and if he wasn’t going to listen to reason before he ran Ren ragged, then someone had to try and distract him.

But how? Daniel didn't really care about anyone but Ren, and taking the opportunity to lecture everyone around him on how they could constantly improve themselves to levels Daniel himself would accept.

_That's it!_

“Daniel, can you teach me to dance?” I blurted out the first thing I thought of as I made my way around the bar to stand on the other side with him.

I wasn’t sure who was more surprised then, as Daniel gaped at me. “Me?” he drawled out the syllables elegantly, raising a hand to cover his chest in shock.

“Well, I mean, uh, you’ve been serving the royal family a long time—” I babbled, afraid that he'd turn me down if I didn't appeal to his vanity and pride.

“I have been serving the royal family practically since birth,” Daniel interrupted proudly, looking a bit miffed that I'd dared to insinuate otherwise.

“Uh, yeah, right, I mean, so you must have had a lot of talents and skills, especially since you’re serving Ren as his personal butler,” I continued, hoping to convince him. "I bet you're also a fantastic tutor. The best, even."

“Of course! His Majesty and Her Majesty would have only the best for my prince!” Daniel practically crowed. He took a moment to sniff dramatically, as if it was an outrage to insinuate that Ren would have anyone other than Daniel act as his butler.

“Right, right, and since you’re the best, you’d be the best one to help a lowly commoner like me learn to dance. In fact,” I added, reaching out to grasp his hand with an air of dramatics I hoped he’d appreciate, “you’re probably the _only_ one who could! Please help me, Daniel, so I don’t make a fool of myself at Uncle’s party!”

Daniel pulled his hand back and tucked his phone away as he straightened his neck ties. “I understand,” he said, pushing his glasses back up his nose with a serious, stern expression that unnerved me. “You wish to impress the elite. It is a task far beyond you, but fortunately I will use my skills and endeavor to help you succeed so you do not make my prince look poorly as one of his . . . friends.” He fell silent as he carefully moved his eyes up and down my body.

“Uh, thanks!” I said, trying to sound as excited as I could. “I think,” I mumbled.

Hopefully, Ren would appreciate my sacrifice, because learning to dance with Daniel would probably be just a step below torture.

Daniel immediately moved closer, until he was practically pushing me into the bar stools behind me as I tried to step back and give him room. “Now which dance did you wish to learn? The mambo? The samba? The tango? The merengue?”

“No,” I interrupted quickly before he could continue. “Just like a regular dance.” At his bemused look, I added, “With a guy. Just a normal boy-girl dance.”

He instantly looked appalled as he pulled back and pressed a hand to his heart. “You don’t even know how to do the most basic of dances? My prince, what kind of company are you keeping!?” he wailed. “This is beyond travesty!”

I sighed and shifted my weight. “So are you going to help or not?”

He reached out and pulled me into his arms with a forcefulness that surprised me. “Of course! There’s no option now! I shall take you, little helpless bird, into my arms and teach you to fly!”

“Dance,” I corrected quickly, eyes growing wide at how seriously he’d taken up the task.

“If you’re not flying, you’re not dancing!” he proclaimed as he wrapped one arm around my hip. His other hand moved to cup my neck, and a moment later he’d gently pulled me flush against him.

“I, uh, err—” I fumbled, trying to express the awkwardness of his legs moving against mine. I thought he was going to do the traditional slow dance, with one hand on the hip while his other hand held my hand, or maybe with my hands on his shoulders and his on my waist, but instead I was left awkwardly holding onto his sleeves as he swayed back and forth.

“Shh,” he interrupted and moved to begin humming in my ear. “You can’t learn to dance like that. Relax, my lady. Let your body move against mine. _Feel_ my movements and let them guide your own.”

“But—”

He pulled me more firmly against him so that I got a mouthful of his shirt collar and part of his neck, effectively cutting off my protests. “Shh. This is for your own good,” he murmured. “Once you can do this, you can learn any dance.”

He continued to hum a song that sounded almost like a lullaby. It was soothing, and within moments I found myself thinking about absolutely nothing as I swayed along with him. It was peaceful, and within moments the tension had left my body, and I was following his movements without even thinking. Instead, I found myself leaning my head against his soft clothes and firm chest.

Some of his hair must have escaped his ponytail and slid down his face, because I felt a few strands tickle my cheeks as I rested against him. The sensation, however, wasn't irritating; it only soothed me further. His hands were gentle, and it surprised me given how usually brazen and harsh he was towards me.

And I was surprised by how quickly and how much I was enjoying this dance with him.

I felt a soft touch against the top of my head and I craned my neck to glance up and see him pull his head away.

Had he kissed my head, or just gently rested his cheek against it?

I felt my face heat at the thought of a kiss, and I found myself sliding my hands around to his back to pull him even closer. I could feel the muscle through his soft clothing, and the contrast made me want to smile. He shouldn’t have been at all comfortable with his firm, trim build, but somehow, he was.

“And now, little bird, we’re flying,” he said, pulling away so I could see we’d managed to glide from the beginning of the bar where we'd started, all the way around the tables and back to the front door. He dropped his arms and gently pulled mine away from him. “I have done my duty well, if I can teach even a commoner like you to dance so majestically.”

He lifted one of my hands to kiss it as I stood there, trying to decide if that was Daniel’s way of complimenting me, or if he was just incapable of saying anything nice.

“Perhaps we’ll dance again sometime,” he added, dropping my hand to give me a slight bow. “I could even show you some of the more intricate steps, if you think you could handle it.”

“I could!” I said, feeling myself rile up at his insinuation that I wasn't capable of such a feat.

He just _had_ to say something like that and ruin what should have been a perfect dance!

He smirked. “I expect nothing less from one associated with my prince. Until next time.” He moved in to softly kiss my cheek and then left the bar with a chuckle that should have worried me, had I not been lost in the shock of his lips.

Daniel had _kissed_ me.

My hand came up to cup my cheek as I watched Daniel head out onto the street, and I swore I could still feel the heat of his lips on my cheek.

What had Uncle’s magazine said about a kiss on the cheek again? A kiss on the hand was gentlemanly, and a sign of courtesy and respect. A kiss on the neck meant “I want you.”

But what did a kiss on the cheek mean?

… Or a kiss on the head?

I glanced over at the counter where Uncle usually kept his magazines, tempted to check, but then I shook my head.

I was just being silly. There was no way Daniel meant anything at all by his kisses. After all, I was just a commoner… and he was more regal and gorgeous than I could ever hope to be.

But now, instead of thinking about Uncle’s party or a new job as I locked the doors and finished cleaning up the bar for the night, all I could think about was the feel of Daniel holding me in his arms as we danced—and how much I looked forward to his offer of dancing again.

**Author's Note:**

> I do take requests, if they inspire me. :)


End file.
